View full sizeMichelle Hunter, The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Police Chief Ronal Serpas holds a sticker that he says officers will begin placing on properties that have been investigated in connection with Crimestoppers tips on drug activity.

Serpas said he wants the public to know that officers are following up on drug-related tips, even though those investigations are done in a clandestine manner.

The labels note, in smaller print, that the NOPD "has served a narcotic-related warrant or checked this residence" as a result of a Crimestoppers tip.

The new sticker-initiative was met with near instant criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana.

"This is like a scarlet letter tattooed onto the homes of otherwise innocent people, giving them no presumption of innocence," said executive director Marjorie Esman. "People who have not even been arrested, let alone tried or convicted, will be singled out and have their homes marked."

The stickers can be removed at "any time by anyone," according to NOPD spokeswoman Remi Braden, and the glue used in the stickers is "said to cause no damage to property."

Esman countered: "If anyone can take it off at any time, then what's the point? Why should taxpayers' money be spent on something that can just be peeled off right away."

Serpas made the announcement in conjunction with the Metairie-based crime-fighting group's unveiling of a new mobile phone application that allows people to anonymously submit tips.

View full sizeDon Aaron, Metro Nashville Police DepartmentThis is the sign used in Nashville, Tenn.

The sticker initiative is a six-month pilot program. Crimestoppers ordered 5,000 stickers, based upon the NOPD's suggestion, according to Crimestoppers Executive Director Darlene Cusanza. She did not respond to an inquiry about the cost of the stickers.

Cusanza said her organization receives an average of about 7,000 crime-related tips each year. Serpas added that the number of viable tips related to NOPD cases was up by 11 percent in 2011.

"People are willing communicate with our department through Crimestoppers," he said. And the stickers, according to Serpas, are meant to assure residents that their calls did not go unnoticed.

"Neighbors will spot it and see it and know we did go to that house, we did follow up on that Crimestoppers tip... which will hopefully encourage more," Serpas said.

Narcotics officers in each of the eight NOPD districts will handle and place the stickers, according to Braden, who called the stickers "clearly an important tool in crime fighting."

Serpas also created a similar sticker program years ago in Nashville, where he was chief prior to his post in New Orleans. Those stickers are fluorescent green, about two feet in length, and note in big bold letters that a warrant was served. "It lets persons on any given street know, in case they didn't know already, that illegal drug activity has been taking place near them and that the police department is on it," said Don Aaron, Nashville police spokesman.

He said the stickers are a common practice, used in cases in which a successful narcotics warrant is executed. He added that officers evaluate each case and determine whether the sticker is appropriate.

Esman said the pilot program appears to allow for the possibility that callers can place bogus, malicious reports of alleged drug activity that will lead to a sticker on someone's house.

Braden, the NOPD's spokeswoman, noted in an email: "Of course the NOPD first determines the validity of all information received and then contemplates an appropriate and legal course of action."